College swimming • Investigation into alleged abuse charges are in third month.

By Aaron Falk The Salt Lake Tribune

Published May 7, 2013 10:21 am

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

More than two months after the criminal investigation of former Utah swim coach Greg Winslow was announced, prosecutors in Arizona have yet to make a decision whether to file formal charges.

The delay has angered the father of Winslow's alleged victim, then a 15-year-old girl and a member of an Arizona swimming club Winslow coached.

"It's been 10 weeks now and I've tried to be really patient," the father, whose name is being withheld to protect the identity of his daughter.

"My daughter came out with this story with a lot of trepidation, and they're not going to do anything about it now?"

Winslow, then the head coach of the Sun Devil Aquatics Club, is accused of fondling and kissing a female swimmer, who was 15 in 2007. According to an Arizona State University police report, Winslow apologized to the alleged victim for the acts in a phone conversation recorded by detectives.

A spokesman for the Maricopa County, Ariz., Attorney's Office said there is no timeline for when a decision regarding Winlow's case might be made.

The University of Utah suspended Winslow in late February after reports of the criminal investigation first surfaced.

Meanwhile, a team of investigators assembled by the U. to look into allegations of physical and emotional abuse involving Winslow and several student-athletes continues.

Parents of former swimmers allege the school's athletics department overlooked or improperly investigated allegations of physical and psychological abuse and failed to protect the confidentiality of whistle-blowing athletes.

Parents expressed myriad concerns about the coach even before Winslow was suspended and the university announced it would not renew his contract. The Salt Lake Tribune has obtained letters to the university dating as far back as February 2008.

The allegations against Winslow include showing up drunk at practices; failing to report two swimmers being caught with marijuana on a trip to Arizona; punching an assistant coach; and taping a PVC pipe to the back, arms and hands of a black swimmer who had joked about being let of out practice for Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 2010, then forcing the student-athlete to swim underwater sprints until he blacked out in the pool.

One member of the investigation team, Salt Lake City attorney Alan Sullivan, said there is no timeline for the completion of that investigation either.

"We have talked to a lot of people and we'll take as long as it takes," he said, declining to comment further on the process.